Zacks Research Upgrades Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD) to "Hold"

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Diodes from "strong sell" to "hold", while the analyst consensus remains a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $92.67 (3 Buys, 2 Holds).
• Quarterly results beat expectations: Diodes reported $0.34 EPS vs. $0.26 expected and revenue of $391.6M (vs. $380.0M), up 15.4% year-over-year; the stock recently traded near its 52-week high (~$89) and opened at $87.52.
• Insider selling was substantial: a director sold 111,000 shares and insiders sold 116,205 shares (~$7.84M) in the last three months, even as institutional ownership remains very high (~99.2%).

Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

DIOD has been the topic of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Diodes from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Truist Financial upgraded Diodes from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised Diodes from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Weiss Ratings raised Diodes from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price target on Diodes from $62.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $92.67.

Diodes Stock Down 0.8%

DIOD stock opened at $87.52 on Monday. Diodes has a fifty-two week low of $33.13 and a fifty-two week high of $89.14. The business's 50 day moving average price is $68.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 3.32. The company has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.63 and a beta of 1.58.

Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The semiconductor company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.08. Diodes had a return on equity of 2.95% and a net margin of 4.46%.The firm had revenue of $391.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $380.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Diodes will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Keh Shew Lu sold 111,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $7,521,360.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 180,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,205,676.56. This represents a 38.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary Yu sold 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.85, for a total value of $176,465.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 111,671 shares in the company, valued at $6,795,180.35. This trade represents a 2.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 116,205 shares of company stock worth $7,837,213 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diodes

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Diodes by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 147,336 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $7,270,000 after buying an additional 8,396 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Diodes during the 4th quarter valued at $211,000. Vident Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Diodes during the 4th quarter valued at $977,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Diodes during the 4th quarter valued at $795,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Diodes by 472.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 31,361 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,547,000 after buying an additional 25,885 shares during the period. 99.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Diodes

Diodes Incorporated NASDAQ: DIOD is a global manufacturer and supplier of high‐performance discrete, logic, analog and mixed‐signal semiconductor products. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, the company designs and develops a broad range of discrete components, standard logic functions, power management circuits, interface products and array products. Its portfolio includes rectifiers, MOSFETs, general‐purpose diodes, voltage regulators, comparators, buffers and other building blocks for electronic systems.

Diodes Incorporated serves a variety of end markets such as automotive, computing, communications, consumer electronics, industrial and lighting.

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